07-04-2013, 05:06 AM
two quick points:
Lulls in combat would have been normal because exhaustion sets in very quickly. Professional fighters who are in peak condition carrying no extra weight of armor or arms can become exhausted after 5 minutes. To my understand it is largely thought battles went through waves of skirmishing with missiles, close combat, withdraw, skirmish and then reengage. And it would be very simple for a force as organized as the Legions to quickly rotate ranks. Professor Rosenstein even asserted that less tactically flexible organizations like the Phalanx would attempt to give their front rank fighters a break, otherwise being in the front rank would be a veritable death sentence because no matter how good you are you cannot hope to survive a full day of consistent close combat against an array of new foes as you cut them down.
Also don't we have accounts of Centurions being the front ranks? I seem to remember Ceasr describing one of his Centurions being killed in the Civil War trying to demonstrate how to go over the shields of the enemy legionaries.
Lulls in combat would have been normal because exhaustion sets in very quickly. Professional fighters who are in peak condition carrying no extra weight of armor or arms can become exhausted after 5 minutes. To my understand it is largely thought battles went through waves of skirmishing with missiles, close combat, withdraw, skirmish and then reengage. And it would be very simple for a force as organized as the Legions to quickly rotate ranks. Professor Rosenstein even asserted that less tactically flexible organizations like the Phalanx would attempt to give their front rank fighters a break, otherwise being in the front rank would be a veritable death sentence because no matter how good you are you cannot hope to survive a full day of consistent close combat against an array of new foes as you cut them down.
Also don't we have accounts of Centurions being the front ranks? I seem to remember Ceasr describing one of his Centurions being killed in the Civil War trying to demonstrate how to go over the shields of the enemy legionaries.
Tom
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